‘The Stratford Upon Avon & Midland Junction Railway’ (or S.M.J.) was a small independent railway company which ran a line across the empty, untouched centre of England. It visited the counties of Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire and a little of Buckinghamshire, only existing as the SMJ from 1909 to 1923. In 1923 the S.M.J.became a minor arm of the London Midland and Scottish (L.M.S.), then in 1948 'British Railways'

Gone but not forgotten: "the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth"

Welcome to
The SMJ Society

Or sign in with:

SMJ Forum

Wartime passenger trains from Burton Dassett

Arthur Jordan in his book, The Stratford Upon Avon and Midland Junction Railway - The Shakespeare Route at pp 82 mentions a WW2 late night special from Stratford on Avon to Burton Dassett for soldiers at the CAD. I would envisage that this did not…Continue

Started by Dave Hayward 20 minutes ago.

PPhoto Albums

AndyAbout two years ago I ended up with some railway matter from a Bill Kendall who had been a Signalman on SMJ ending his railway career at Northampton No 1. I worked with him when I was working in Rugby PSB, I also covered the signa?l boxes at…Continue

Started by Robin Leslie Patrick May 17.

Broom Junction station site for sale 3 Replies

Great opportunity for an SMJ enthusiast perhaps. I'm not sure what you could actually do with this site though!…Continue

Started by Simon Stevens. Last reply by Simon Stevens May 17.

National Archives, Donation and Kineton Photograph

Not sure if others are aware of the significant amount of documents held by the National Archives on the SMJ. The collection consists mainly of Directors Minutes etc. There is also a collection of early 20th C timetables, handbills etc. which I have…Continue

Started by Dave Hayward Apr 26.

SMJ photos

Modifications to Towcester building date?

I have only just noticed that the upper windows on the Banbury/Stratford wall of the main station building (small ones below the eves) were a later modification as they are not present on the earlier photos of the station (namely those with the "square" footbridge),
Anyone know when these were added by any change or at least narrow it down to a gap of years?

Cheers all

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Barry Taylor on December 28, 2011 at 14:37

Hi Gary - good point - I had not noticed this before!

Just had a quick look at my Towcester photos, and the common denominator might be the existence of the platform canopy - the windows don't seem to be there when there is a canopy present - very strange.

The only thing that I can think of is that perhaps, with the upper storey being used as living accommodation (?), maybe the 'authorities' were then obliged to provide a means of escape in case of fire? Perhaps this was not necessary when they could have scrambled out onto the canopy, but its removal incurred the wrath of an early form of 'Elf 'n safety' inspector? Depends on the internal layout of the building and whether another means of access / escape was available. Can't think of another good reason though. As for a date, I'll have to dig a bit further.